January 2006

Move Comes After Appellate Division Panel Upholds Ban on Same-Sex Marriages

By John Caher and Daniel Wise

Same-sex couples have no constitutional right to marry, New York's Appellate Division, 1st Department, ruled on Dec. 8, in the first decision by a state appeals court to address the issue. Rejecting a constitutional challenge, Justice Milton L. Williams wrote for a 4-1 majority that the state's limitation of marriage to a "union between one man and one woman" is based upon "innate, complementary, procreative roles, a function of biology, not mere legal rights." Joining in the majority decision were Justice James M. Catterson, George D. Marlow, and John W. Sweeny Jr.

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